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Over the last year, some political figures have called for the end of “no-fault” divorce. No-fault divorce is a standard across all states, and most divorces that happen each year fall into that category. Ending no-fault divorce would mean an upheaval to family law processes and filings across the country.
No-fault divorce is the style of divorce in which no one person is an at-fault party. If you see “irreconcilable differences” listed as a reason for divorce, that is a no-fault divorce.
The concept of no-fault divorce has only been around since the late 60s in the US. With Washington being one of the first states to adopt the measure in in 1973. Prior to no-fault divorce, people who wanted to end the marriage had to find fault or cause with their partner, which posed a problem in many cases.
Finding fault with your partner is pretty easy. Some people are awful at closing the cabinets. Some people take a long time to decide on dinner. However, those minor inconveniences are not grounds to end a marriage. The recognized grounds for ending a marriage before no-fault divorce were:
However, to achieve these grounds, you had to prove them. To get a divorce, you had to come with evidence of a broken marriage.
And sometimes, that wasn’t enough. A judge could find your evidence lacking and deny the divorce.
No-fault divorce has allowed people to end marriages that didn’t work without having to prove it. And that includes abusive marriages. It can be challenging to prove necessary elements in a court of law, especially surrounding issues like emotional abuse or physical abuse.
Ending no fault divorce makes it harder to end a marriage. And that means people are stuck in possibly dangerous situations without a way out.
This page has been written and reviewed by the Envision Family Law team in accordance with our editorial guidelines.
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